Music Box: 'Bright Star' livens up a quiet musical time

By Michael Buckley

Correspondent|

Jan 05, 2016 | 11:39 AM

Bright Star is a new musical from triple-threat actor/writer/musician Steve Martin and Grammy-winning musician Edie Brickell. The show is being developed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where it opened in a pre-Broadway run on Jan. 3 and continues in the nation’s capital through Sunday. (Staff)

Along with the excitement (and spending) of the holiday season and the coming of the New Year, there is a relatively quiet period that follows in early January as concert halls go dark with fewer shows and concerts to choose from.

But in that darkness this year there is a Bright Star shining, becoming more brilliant by the day. Bright Star is a new musical from triple-threat actor/writer/musician Steve Martin and Grammy-winning musician Edie Brickell.

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The show is being developed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where it opened in a pre-Broadway run on Jan. 3 and continues in the nation's capital through Sunday, before moving on to the Great White Way.

"I've never been so excited," exclaims Edie Brickell in a promotional video for the musical.

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Described as a sweeping tale of love and redemption set against the rich backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the story takes place in the classic Appalachian American South of the 1920s and '40s. The story, in a nutshell goes like this:

When successful literary editor Alice Murphy meets an ambitious young soldier just home from World War II, their connection inspires Alice to confront a shocking incident from her past. Together they discover a long-buried secret with the power to transform their lives.

Carey Purcell describes the show in her Playbill review as an "…entertaining musical of enduring love, family ties, and the light of forgiveness that shines from a bright star."

Bright Star features 20 new songs — "Americana with a touch of rock." Brickell penned the lyrics and she co-wrote the music, while Steve Martin is the author of the book (script) and co-wrote the music for the new show.

"Edie and I one day were discussing how much we loved musicals," Martin said. "We both grew up with musicals. I had written plays and I had written music and I'd written screen plays. So, I thought this is the perfect combination for writing a musical."

While better known as a film actor, Martin is no stranger to the theatre and plays. Along with fellow actor/comedian the late Robin Williams, he took on Samuel Beckett on stage in "Waiting for Godot," directed by Mike Nichols, and worked with playwright-come-screen writer and director David Mamet ("The Spanish Prisoner"), and he adapted Rostand's tour de force, Cyrano De Bergerac in his film "Roxanne."

Martin's original play "Picasso at the Lapin Agile," produced at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago to wide critical and popular acclaim. Long after debuting his talent as banjo player on "Saturday Night Live" (remember "You Can't Sing a Depressing Song while Playing the Banjo?"), Martin devoted much of his recent career to touring and recording bluegrass music with the prolific Steep Canyon Rangers. He made a pair of albums, including the Grammy- winner "Love Has Come for You" (2013) and "So Familiar" (2015), with Brickell.

"A song from our first record is the foundation from which the musical has grown," Brickell told Time magazine in a 2015 interview. "The second record expresses a lot of the characters' information and perspectives that show up in the musical."

While the story is inspired by an actual event, the script for Bright Star is freshly conceived and unique in its originality. Director Walter Bobbie describes the musical as very rare.

"I think it's the first time I've ever done a completely original show where the narrative is not based on anything."

Bobbie's resume includes acting in the role of Roger in the original 1972 Broadway production of "Grease," and a starring role in the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls. Among many musical theatre concerts he's produced and directed, Bobbie directed a concert version of "South Pacific" at Carnegie Hall, and was the winner of a Tony Award for his direction of the smash hit Broadway musical Chicago.

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See the birth of what may amount to the next great American musical this weekend at the Kennedy Center. If the accolades for the young cast are any indication we could be in for a great theatrical treat.

Carmen Cusack ("Chicago," "Wicked") reprises the role of Alice, which she originated in "Bright Star's" world premiere production at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre.

"I think why it's so refreshing is in taking an acorn of an idea and expanding it into a giant oak tree of possibilities," said Brickell.

Tickets for this weekend's final run of Bright Star performances at the Kennedy Center are scarce, but tickets for the Broadway previews beginning on Feb. 25 at the Cort Theatre are available via the show's official website – brightstarmusical.com.